Chatino - Orientation

Identification.
The Chatino are an indigenous group of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The
term "Chatino" is a Spanish rendering of the word
cha'tnǫ,
which glosses literally as "words work." The Chatino use
this word to refer both to their language and themselves. As a group,
they distinguish themselves from neighboring Zapotec who speak
cha'mstye,
"crazy words," and from the bordering Mixtec who speak
cha'puta,
"whore's words."

Location.
There are some fifty Chatino communities along the Pacific coast of
Oaxaca from 16°00′ to 16°36′ N and from
97°30′ to 97°34′ W. The majority of these
communities are in eight
municipios
in the district of Juquila—San Juan Lachao, San Juan Quiahije,
San Miguel Panixtlahuaca, Santa Catarina Juquila, Santa Maria
Temaxcaltepec, Santos Reyes Nopala, Tataltepec de Valdéz, and
Santiago Yaitepec. The rest are in the municipio of Santa Cruz
Zenzontepec in the district of Sola de Vaga. The area is mountainous.
From a narrow coastal plain, the Sierra Madre del Sur, which transects
the region from east to west, rises to over 2,500 meters. Numerous
rivers and streams have carved narrow valleys and deep gorges into the
landscape. Ecologically, three zones may be distinguished: tropical
lowlands; a temperate zone above 800 meters of deciduous oak-climax
forests; and coniferous, cold country above 1,600 meters. There are two
seasons: rainy and dry. The former extends from mid-May through October.
The region receives between 100 and 200 centimeters of precipitation
annually.

Demography.
There are approximately 30,000 Chatino speakers. National census
figures for the region, however, are notoriously poor, and, if anything,
tend to underestimate the populations of their communities, particularly
the percentage of Chatino speakers. Where careful demographic studies
have been made, they indicate that Chatino populations are young and
growing rapidly. Birthrates run 40 to 50 per 1,000, compared, for
instance, with the national average of 29 in 1993. Even so,
infantmortality rates, which run more than 65 deaths per 1,000 live
births, are more than twice the national average, regardless of various
methods of measurement. Death rates, which average 25 per 1,000, are
likewise nearly five times the national figures. As a result, compared
with
68
for males and 76 for females nationally, Chatino life expectancy is in
the 40s and 50s. Such disparities are symptoms of the greater poverty
and malnutrition and relative lack of medical services that this
indigenous population copes with in its daily struggles to survive.

Linguistic Affiliation.
Chatino belongs to the Macro-Mayan Phylum of languages, to the Oaxacan
Subphylum, and the Zapotecan Family. There are at least three distinct
dialects of Chatino, with centers in Yaitepec, Tataltepec, and
Zenzontepec.

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